The origin of the communicative activity

In the mechanistic paradigm, communication refers to a unidirectional process of encoding and transmitting information from the source and receiving information by the recipient of the message. In the activity approach, communication is understood as a joint activity of communication participants (communicators), during which a common (up to a certain limit) view of things and actions with them is developed.

In more details we will consider various models of communication later, now we will note essential differences of two approaches. For a mechanistic approach, it is typical to consider a person as a mechanism (mechanism = 'philosophy of a clockwork toy'), whose actions can be described by certain final rules, the context of the external communication environment is regarded here as noise, interference. Another approach is characterized by procedural, continual, contextual . In general, the latter approach is closer to the reality of life and more humanistic. At the same time, for some applied applications of the theory of communication, it is not harmful to use mechanistic metaphors ( exchange of information ), while not forgetting the conventionality of this term.

Communication takes place not only in human social systems. A certain kind of communication is characteristic of animals (mating dances of birds, the flow of wood grouse, the language of bees, etc.), and for mechanisms, i.e. man-made objects (pipelines, sewage, transport, telegraph and telephone signals, the interconnection of computers on the Internet, etc., and human communication with the help of mechanisms should not be included here). In the technical sphere, the word communication is very often used in the plural: communication (pipes can be counted). Human communication is an incalculable concept, therefore, the use of the plural in this area is not entirely appropriate. It is more correct to speak about the means and types of communication, its methods and participants, i.e. use counting words (such as, for example, a kilogram of sugar , a cup of tea , the type and method of activity , types of communication , etc.). The use of the plural: communications and their varieties, similarly to colloquially colloquially two teas, three coffees , two informations and is connected, apparently, with the fact that the social sciences have recently been supplemented by not very competent specialists in pipes and communications. Interestingly, a similar problem arose in the English language. Two forms compete there: uncountable communication and countable communications , and two opinions about which of them should be used in relation to human communication .

· Preservation of the species (sexual behavior, care for the offspring, etc.),

· The preservation of the individual (satisfaction of hunger and thirst, the search for food, stockpiling of stocks, etc.) and

· Ensuring more or less permanent security (protection from bad weather conditions, enemies, separation from fellow humans, etc.).

It is in the latter case that the mechanisms of behavior have an intermediate direction: they provide communication between the individual and the species. Here we are talking about adapting the behavior of the individual to the forms of behavior of other representatives of the species. The cognitive processes here are aimed at distinguishing between friends and enemies, and behavioral programs for joint flight or attack, warning or persecution. In coordinated, coordinated behavior to ensure protection and safety, and you should look for the roots of communication. The quasi-social behavior of animals extends to the first two areas of instinctive behavior (reproduction and the search for food).

Even more interesting is the way in which hazard information is disseminated. There are two types of danger: predators and nest raiders. If a bird sees a predator, then it makes a specific sound, like a whistle, denoting the need to escape. If a nest raider appears, the bird makes an intermittent staccato sound, which serves as a call to battle, gathering nearby birds in order to drive the attacker away from the nests. The distinction of predators is learned by birds in the process of development and is passed on to the next generation, can be used in the process of dog training (you can even be taught to be afraid of the milk bottle).

When a bee discovers a new source of nectar, it returns to the hive and, if the nectar is not far away, performs a circular dance, through which it informs its friends the location of the nectar. Other bees are included in this dance, feeling the smell of nectar on the body of the bee-messenger. Then they fly around the hive, and find flowers that fit the message. If the nectar is located at a distance of more than 90 m from the hive, the bee-herald performs a dance of eight, swinging his belly during a straight-line movement at the intersection of two circles. The dance shows the exact distance to nectar and its direction relative to the sun. The vertical direction in the honeycomb corresponds to the position of the sun, and the angle between the vertical and the sector of rotation of the figure eight indicates the angle between the direction to the sun and the nectar. The distance is shown by the amount of wiggling at the stage of straight motion. In addition, the bees regulate the temperature in the hive by trembling wings.

Primates have an even more sophisticated communication system, to a certain, very limited extent, they are able to absorb human language. In South African monkeys, for example, there is a set of gestures and sounds to indicate predators. It contains four 'words' to denote 1) flying predators, 2) four-legged predators (for example, leopards), 3) snakes, and 4) other primates. Each of the warning signs causes a different behavior. The leopard sign causes the monkeys to climb the treetops, while the air raid sign causes them to fall like a stone into the depths of the foliage of the tree. The signals themselves are innate, but the young individuals learn from the elders and sometimes get confused (they get scared of, say, a falling leaf of a tree). In the green macaque, the existence of 36 clearly distinct sounds, also grouped into alarm classes, was found. Chimpanzees have shouts of joy when food is found (loud screams with squeals, while they first embrace and pat each other, only then turning to food), greeting sounds when meeting friends-comrades, especially brothers and sisters after a long separation, call-up sounds that inspire other members of the group when fighting with the enemy, means of sound communication between the mother and child, etc. But the greatest diversity is shown by sound signals of social existence (the growl of a strong opponent, the quiet grunts when passing through the herd in order to maintain contact savannah, etc.).

In addition to sounds, animals use other channels of communication. Smell and smell, so important for bees, and for ants, and for lower monkeys, are less important for higher primates. In the latter, silent communication is predominantly visual (gestures) and tactile (touches). In the campaign, the male in front raises a paw (arm?) - a stop signal for the herd (group?), A chimpanzee with a high social status (boss, 'plowman') can gesture to allow her subordinates to eat the food, the mother-chimpanzee touching the pup (child ) does not allow him, for example, to run somewhere, combing the coat of a fellow is a sign of submission and the absence of aggressive intentions, demonstration of the anal area is also a gesture of submission or subordination, the struggle between rivals is accompanied by corresponding gestures Tami and facial expressions. Interestingly, a self-confident leader rarely resorts to a symbolic threat, and rarely requires subordinates to "show ass." An uncertain leader too often requires submission gestures; as a result, these gestures become stereotypical, the original semantics are 'weathered', and such a leader loses its position.

An example of a demonstration of a dominant position: monkeys drumming on the ground and in their own rib cage, whip up wool, making aggressive sounds, swinging specially broken off branches, twisting young trees into a ram's horn, tearing up tree roots, throwing themselves with sand or earth. The branch, specially broken off to demonstrate its strength, and not for any physiological needs, is a sign, a means of communication. The desire for social domination has such a strong motivational basis that even food and sexual needs can recede into the background.

Thus, the first means of communication arise from instinctive behavior, which can vary under the influence of conditions and behavior correction in the process of mutual learning. This behavior is fixed in memory, and freeing itself from the influence of hereditary factors, it acquires a new meaning and relatively independent existence (attack - imitation of a swoop - hint at imitation; randomly shown teeth during a yawn can be taken as a token of a threat; raising a hand to climb a tree and stop for this - raising the hand as a signal for stopping; demonstration of the anal area by the female baboon as a call for copulation - a signal of peacefulness with the male in relation to the winner). The memory of the animal stores not only the model of behavior, but also the reaction of the environment, that is, the fellows. In the future, ineffective moments of the behavioral act are reduced, and essential for changing the behavior of other communicants are emphasized. The behavioral act becomes a communicative act. Bio-relevant becomes semiotic (Yu.S. Stepanov). Communication, therefore, is an isolated part of a joint activity aimed at regulating this activity itself (meta-activity).

The man is not so far away from his fellow animal world. Herd behavior is also found in humans ; groups of people can act both as a pack of wolves and as a flock of sheep ; many people divide others into their own and their enemies, ours and others ; we lick hands or even the backside of higher-level human individuals, throw stones at the fallen; the leader in human social systems plays the role of the leader of the pack ; uncertain and unstable leaders, as a rule, show nervous communication and require attention signs ; kids throw sand in the sandbox; small children can behave provocatively towards adults without fear of punishment; in the boy's teenage environment, there is a special ritual of greeting in the form of shaking hands in a circle; Often social domination or self-affirmation in young human individuals is expressed in gestures and cries, resembling primates, adolescents experience fights and imitation fights , incidents of vandalism (unmotivated destruction of public buildings and structures, for example, fans of football clubs), etc.

We should not forget the biological roots of communication, forget where a person came from, but it should also be noted in practical behavior that a person still emerged as a species from a primitive state. Where should he go: backward or forward? Communication contributes to its development as a social being, human development as a species as a whole, as well as individual representatives of this species Animal symbolicum (E. Kassirer, lat. "An animal that uses symbols"). That is why the level of communicative competence correlates with the level of socialization of the individual, with the level of manifestation of intelligence and other human qualities.

As we see, even at the prehuman stage, communication shows its main features:

o intersubjectivity ;

o activity character ;

o it can be said that communicators are not born, communications are trained , although there are certain biological, natural prerequisites for learning communicative activities.

One of the first to appear was the onomatopoeic or onomatopoetic hypothesis (onomatopoea: the Greek name твνομα, ποείν to create). One of the first to express it was Democritus and Plato. In one form or another, it is contained in everyday ideas about language, and in some concepts of later eras. In accordance with the hypothesis of the onomatopoeic character of the first words of human

language, people in the early periods of its development imitated the sounds of the world: the cries of birds, animals, the sound of water, thunder, etc. This, true for some (very few) words, a hypothesis, yet in its 'strong' version should be regarded as very naive. Indeed, there are not so many onomatopoetic words ( cuckoo cuckoo, woof, woof, bang, bang, etc.). At the same time, both in the languages ​​of primitive peoples and in the languages ​​of modern developed societies, there are approximately the same number, although this theory should have predicted their greater number in the languages ​​of primitive societies.

This theory is completely destroyed, if we compare the sound imitations of various languages: English. bow-wow, to bark is not at all similar to rus. Woof-woof, barking, and even more barking. A consistent proponent of this theory would have to admit that English and Russian dogs belong to different breeds. But what about the Russian dogs that do not bark, but whine, they say tyaf-tyaf ? Finally, and what to do with the rest of the words that do not exhibit onomatopoetic properties, because there are much more of them, and any theory is verified (verified), in particular, by evaluating its explanatory power (how much it can explain the facts, including all new and new). Those who continue to persist can be offered to carry out phonetic, acoustic, spectral and any other sound analysis, for example, of a cat and a person speaking meow (this sound imitation is most similar in English and Russian). But even comparing the sound imitations themselves Rus. meow and eng. miaou , we will find the units of the sound system of a language (phonemes) that are already in it, and not borrowed from a cat. The Englishman may understand you if you tell him meow (less likely to understand if your phrase is woof-woof ), and certainly the cat will not understand you. Thus, the onomatopoetic hypothesis as a theory of the origin of a language cannot be considered consistent.

The second theory, close to the onomatopoeic - interjection . Сторонниками этой гипотезы были древнегреческий философ Эпикур и биолог Чарльз Дарвин, языковеды Вильгельм фон Гумбольдт и А.А.Потебня. Первотолчком к созданию слов в данном случае считался не внешний мир, а внутренние эмоциональные состояния человека. При этом эмоциональные состояния человек выражал не только с помощью звуков, но и с помощью жестов. Вильгельм Вундт (лингвист и психолог, XIX век) считал, что звуки (междометия) выражали чувства, жесты же – представления о предметах. Он выделял три вида жестов: указательные (пальцем), изобразительные (круговое движение рукой), символические (палец у губ). В ходе эволюции звуковой язык совершенствовался, а язык жестов играл более вспомогательную роль. Как и звукоподражательная, междометная теория не объясняет многого в языке, хотя роль жеста в речевом поведении человека весьма существенна. Ономатопоэтическую теорию за ее ограниченность в шутку прозвали 'теория гав-гав', а междометную – 'теория тьфу-тьфу'.

Одним из недостатков вышеупомянутых теорий явилось преувеличение сугубо биологического аспекта происхождения языка. Собственно, ими изучалось происхождение механизма говорения и ассоциации внешних впечатлений и внутренних переживаний с языковыми знаками. Еще одна теория – теория инстинктивных трудовых выкриков добавила, с одной стороны, деятельностный аспект (мышление и действие были первоначально неразрывны), а с другой – аспект социальный (трудовые выкрики во время совместной работы становились символами трудовых процессов, протоязык был набором глагольных корней).

Социальный аспект преобладал и даже перевешивал в теории социального договора,which regarded language as a conscious invention and creation of people, approved by a treaty between them. This theory gained particular popularity in the rationalistic 18th century (Etienne Bonno de Condillac, Adam Smith, Jean-Jacques Rousseau). Rousseau divided the life of humanity into two periods: the natural and civilized. In the first period, man was a part of nature and the language was derived from the senses: "the first sounds of voices caused passion," which then became symbols of objects acting on hearing; objects acting on sight, were indicated by gestures. With the advent of property and the state, the language became less emotional, more 'dry, rational and methodical', which meant his regression for Rousseau. The rational behavior of people caused, ostensibly, the emergence of social agreements regarding language.

“Органы рта постепенно научились произносить один членораздельный звук за другим”, пишет Энгельс. Это оказало, по мнению философа, и влияние на развитие самих органов речи, превращению их в человеческие.

· имя собственное, указывающее на индивидуальный предмет;

· родовое имя комплекса или группы предметов;

· абстрактное имя понятия.

Весьма интересен и анализ этапов развития письменности, проведенный Выготским и Лурия. Именно на этом примере ярко видно превращение внешнего знака во внутренний (интериоризация), преобразование элементов культурной среды в мир личности. Мнемотехника (например, узелок на память, подобно индейскому узловому письму) и пиктограмма (подобно пиктографическому письму некоторых индейских племен) употребляются в коммуникации и современными людьми. Этот анализ интересен и для понимания особенностей невербальной, в частности, визуальной коммуникации, столь характерной для современности (реклама, выставки и презентации, язык городских указателей, дорожные знаки, телевидение, политическая и государственная символика и т.п.)

Есть еще много различных теорий происхождения языка. Как видим, преувеличение роли либо биологического, либо социального аспекта не дает полной картины глоттогенеза. Следует признать, что глоттогенез – явление многофакторное. В появлении языка играли роль как биологические предпосылки, так и социальные факторы. Не следует забывать и о фактах чисто лингвистических (многие языки современных индейцев, первобытных племен Африки и Океании, развитие детской речи дают богатейший материал для размышления).

Разумеется, исследование проблемы происхождения языка представляет не только чисто научный интерес. В подходах к решению этой проблемы отразились существеннейшие концепции самой сущности языка, значимые как для современной лингвистики, так и для отношения к языку наивного пользователя. Важнейшей и труднейшей проблемой для языкознания является сущность языка и языковых единиц: как получается (и как получилось в ходе эволюции), что с помощью материальных носителей (звуков и письмен) люди могут обмениваться нематериальными сообщениями? Этот вопрос пытается решить и звукоподражательная, и междометная, и деятельностная теории: связь звука со значением через подражание обозначаемому, через выражение вызываемого впечатления, через объединение действия и мысли.